Ray Parker Jr. Performed Ghostbusters With The Roots

By Andrew Sanford | TV | March 18, 2024 |

By Andrew Sanford | TV | March 18, 2024 |

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire hits theaters this Friday. The fifth film in the Ghostbusters franchise will reunite the new cast members from Afterlife with busters old and new. The director, Gil Kenan, has mentioned before that the film will not be as bogged down by the past as its predecessor. Still, that hasn’t stopped promotion for the film from doing the exact opposite.

The trailers have been full of references. Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and Bill Murray have been featured front and center (along with Paul Rudd, who Sony seems to be pushing as the franchise’s new face). It could all be to get butts in seats, which I get, but I was more intrigued personally by the idea that the film would try to cover new ground. Still, I am a weak man.

Murray and Hudson appeared together on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to promote the film. While there, they sang with The Roots (as one is wont to do) and even brought along Ray Parker Jr. They all performed the Ghostbusters theme using classroom instruments. I absolutely loved it (again, I am weak). It’s fun, silly, and preying on my nostalgic view of the franchise with the exact-o-knife-like precision.

This is the stuff that Jimmy Fallon excels at. Even being fully aware that he is (allegedly) a real jerk to his staff, it was impossible not to light up at the crew having fun. Despite knowing that Bill Murray got a whole film canceled for his inappropriate behavior, I still excitedly nodded along. Ernie Hudson and Ray Parker Jr. acted as my North Stars. (Please don’t tell Huey Lewis I said that.)